I began working for my current employer six years ago. It is a medium-sized Japanese company.
For my first four years at the company, I was under a “full time” contract. I watched as people younger than me got promoted to the permanent type of contract with significantly higher pay again and again. I discussed this with the CEO multiple times, and each time he gave me the same answer: they’re Japanese and you’re a foreigner.
I am lucky enough that he actually e-mailed me this once.
Well, I kept at it, and after my fifth year, the company had to hire me as a permanent employee by law. This came with a significant increase in salary. However, I soon after found out that even then, people with less experience were making more than me as long as they were Japanese. When I, again, confronted the CEO about this, he stated that I am a foreigner and they’re Japanese. He talked to me as if I were an idiot and he were saying the most natural thing in the world.
Well, the other day I was called in with a bunch of company executives sitting around a big conference table. They immediately asked me to sign a paper stating that I was leaving the company on my own terms. I said no. One of the executives got extremely red-faced, shrieking with rolling -r こら！ about my refusal to sign. I stayed professional and refused, then laughed myself silly in the bathroom. How the fuck that bald impotent prick thought he was being intimidating is beyond my understanding.
They have remained silent on the issue since.
Some people may want to suggest that I’m just a loser who’s shit at his job, but that’s not even true. There are guys here who spend all day on Instagram, or talking with each other, or sleeping in the break room. There is a woman who sits near me who is literally on her phone for 8/10 of her working hours per day. My performance has been exemplary according to essentially all my co-workers, and my immediate supervisor has had nothing but glowing reviews for me.
I’m planning to sue. I just want to know what I can expect going into this. Yes I will get a lawyer, but hearing about someone who sued under similar circumstances may give me the confidence I need to really ream them hard.
2 comments
Shit, keep us updated! Good luck! I’m Japanese and raised in USA. Shit like this is not acceptable!
Let me guess, the executives are all relatives or members of the same let’s say “coaching circle” and you were 10+ years younger than everyone on your team when you signed up? How many coworkers did you have to tell about keyboard shortcuts? I’m guessing at least 3.